The invention generally relates to wireless communication systems. In particular, the invention relates to an insertion sorter used in conjunction with estimation of noise variance within a time division multiple access (TDMA), or time division-code division multiple access (TD-CDMA) receiver.
Communication systems using TDMA and TD-CDMA signals are well known in the art. For simplicity, both types of signals are referred to as TDMA hereinafter. In communications between a user equipment (UE) and a base station, the TDMA signal has a frame structure with a plurality of time slots. For certain types of signals, each of the time slots includes two data bursts that are separated by a user specific midamble. The data bursts transmit the desired data and, the user specific midamble is used to perform channel estimation. The midamble contains a series of chips, which in turn are processed through a filter to produce a series of channel response taps.
Among the series of channel response taps are signal taps, which represent the communication signal, with the remaining taps representing noise. Depending on the specific type of TDMA system architecture, the number of signal taps is designated by a fixed predetermined value.
A TDMA receiver must screen the channel response taps to determine which taps are the signal taps. The signal taps are those taps having the greatest value. A sorter is conventionally used to identify the most significant taps as the signal taps. Several iterations of the sorter are typical of a system using conventional bubble sort methods. It is desirable to provide a sorter with a minimal number of hardware components and arranged to provide a high degree of sorting efficiency.